Initially they really deluded themselves into thinking they could defeat or at least severely degrade Russia. Instead all they managed to do is make Russia much, much stronger in all respects: militarily, economically and diplomatically.

The West all but admits the first two, and the only reason they still can't see the last is because they are stuck in their bubble where they think that the entire "international community" consists only of the West and its vassals.

I've been under the impression that the game plan was to use Ukraine as a quagmire to tie up Russia, test new technologies, force the EU into an even more subservient, buffer state role, and use Ukraine as a martyr to rally Russophobic Western sentiments and manufacture consent for new "security" measures in the West that would further silence opposition. I feel the ultimate goal was really China - using the martyred Ukraine as a call to arms to "save Taiwan", as it were (the news painting Russia as villainous made a big deal of effort trying to tie China to everything Russia did in the war, and comparing the situation in Ukraine to the situation with Taiwan).

It's the only thing I could think of that made any kind of sense. The only alternative is that they genuinely believed Ukraine could have beaten Russia with only military aid. I don't doubt some people in positions of power could be convinced of that, but at the highest levels I have to believe this was just another attempt by the US to keep Russia off-balance enough that the US could try and cut China down.

Not really, the whole point was to destroy Europe.

The US simply cannot afford to have Europe backing China in the coming showdown between the two giants. Nord Stream 2 construction was completed in 2021, and its certification kept getting delayed to prevent the Europeans from gaining energy sovereignty, after which they will no longer need to be dependent the US. Hence the war in Ukraine was needed to sever the connection between Europe and Eurasia.

The Ukraine war was dragged out precisely to allow this strategic goal of the US empire to be achieved.

It's been fairly widely reported at the time even in western media. I was just too lazy to dig for a better source.

The point, now that Plan A - degrading or defeating Russia - has failed, is Plan B - degrade and subjugate Europe. In this respect it is safe to say they are succeeding at the moment. Germany is rapidly deindustrializing, entering into a deep recession while at the same time becoming more and more dependent on and controlled by the US. And as Germany goes so does the EU. The US needs this new colonial subordination of Europe to make up for its empire receding everywhere else in the world. It gets to stave off its own decline by cannibalizing the industry and economic base of Europe.